Martine Rolls: Just a little bit of pampering

I've been a lot more active on Twitter lately and besides using it for work and sending the odd tweet into the world, I follow 456 profiles.

They range from people and organisations that tweet very serious stuff to celebrities, comedians, politicians, some local people and a handful of industry leaders and social media gurus.

If you are using Twitter and you'd like to know what I am tweeting about, feel free to follow @MartineRolls. The views expressed from that profile are my own, of course.

The paper has a Twitter profile, too. Make sure to follow @BayTimes to keep up with the latest here in the Bay.

Twitter is fantastic for breaking news as it's a network that operates in real-time. There aren't that many people from the Bay active on it yet, but if something of national or international importance happens, chances are that Twitter will have it first.

As my fellow columnist Marcel Currin pointed out in his write-up last Friday, the real value of Twitter is its ability to transmit conversations and information - including links, videos and images - incredibly quickly across otherwise unconnected groups of people.

That makes it a handy tool for me, being the online editor for this paper, but when the working day is done, I mainly check Twitter for fun.

This morning, I noticed a post by @iTweetFacts. They tweet interesting facts and useless information you never knew you wanted to know.

This particular post said: Women who get their hair/nails done on a daily basis are happier and live longer. Pampering yourself is good for your health.

I'm sure most girls appreciate visits to a hair salon and regular beauty treatments but getting your hair and nails done on a daily basis? How do you pull that one off?

The cost of a manicure, even with a GrabOne or other daily deal discount voucher, is around $50. A basic facial treatment costs about the same. A senior stylist at a reputable salon will charge at least $60 for a haircut, and for an hour's relaxation massage you can cough up around $70.

I'm sure the women referred to in the tweet from @iTweetFacts are the ones who can afford all this pampering? It leaves me with a burning question. Is the daily pampering the actual reason for their happiness, or is it the fact they have enough money to spoil themselves every day?

It wouldn't wind me up so much normally, but I walked past a really nice beauty salon this weekend which had a sign on the door that said, Open. I hesitated for a while, and thought how nice it would be to go in and spend an hour or two in there just to relax a little.

I could only imagine how good I would feel afterwards.

With a huge workload and a schedule that is hectic as ever, a tight budget, plus the school holidays in the middle of its second week, I would love to take some time out for a massage or to get my hair done.

A new pair of winter boots would be nice as well, or a new handbag as the one I'm using at the moment is getting shabby.

Fact is the rent, groceries, the power bill and all the other necessities will have to take priority over self-spoiling again.

Some of you will remember it was only last week that I claimed that I don't need fancy stuff to be happy, and that still stands. But sometimes, just sometimes, it would be so nice to go out and spend some serious money on myself!

But then I saw a tweet by Kristen Butler who uses the profile name @positiveKristen. It was a quote that said: "If you don't like something change it; if you can't change it, change the way you think about it."

Words of wisdom by American author and poet Maya Angelou. Thanks for posting this Kristen. It was just what I needed. Now I'm going to pour myself a nice hot bath with lots of bubbles. That'll have to do.